Trump: 'We'll have to see' if Robert Mueller should step down from Russia investigation

It's a deceptively simple question. Can Donald Trump fire Robert Mueller?
Time

WASHINGTON — It was not exactly a vote of confidence from President Trump for special counsel Robert Mueller.

Asked whether Mueller should recuse himself from the federal investigation he is leading into possible collusion between Trump associates and Russia during the presidential election, Trump told Fox & Friends: "We're going to have to see."

Trump supporters have complained that Mueller is ill-suited to lead the FBI's Russia investigation because he is a friend of James Comey, the FBI director Trump abruptly fired last month. Comey's testimony that Trump pressed him to drop the FBI's inquiry into former national security adviser Michael Flynn is now part of the Mueller-led investigation into whether Trump attempting to obstruct justice.

"Well, he's very, very good friends with Comey, which is very bothersome," Trump told Fox News.

The president sounded more equivocal as to whether that should disqualify Mueller. "But he's also — we're going to have to see. I mean we're going to have to see in terms — look, there has been no obstruction," Trump said. "There has been no collusion (with Russia). There has been leaking by Comey."

Mueller preceded Comey at the helm of the FBI, serving as director from 2001 to 2013 under both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. Mueller, whose appointment as special counsel in the Russia probe was welcomed by members of both parties, has a fairly high-profile history with Comey: Both men intervened to stave off a Bush administration attempt to extend a secret surveillance program at the hospital room bedside of then-seriously ill Attorney General John Ashcroft in 2004.

In the wake of Comey's firing on May 9, multiple congressional panels and a special counsel have expanded their investigations into Russia's attempts to influence last year's election by hacking emails from Democrats close to nominee Hillary Clinton.

Trump, who was caught off guard by his Justice Department's appointment of a special counsel, has reportedly pondered whether to seek Mueller's removal. Even congressional Republicans said they would oppose such a move – and it would likely spark an even bigger political firestorm than the Comey dismissal.

While the White House is referring all questions about the Russia investigations to Trump's outside legal team. Trump himself continues to address the probes – in increasingly defensive tweets denouncing the investigation as a witch hunt.and in media interviews.

During the Fox & Friends interview, Trump also cited news reports that members of Mueller's staff were political contributors to Clinton. (Trump himself also gave money to Clinton during her years in the U.S. Senate.)

"I can say that the people that have been hired are all Hillary Clinton supporters," Trump said. "Some of them worked for Hillary Clinton. I mean the whole thing is ridiculous, if you want to know the truth, from that standpoint."

He added: "But Robert Mueller is an honorable man and hopefully he'll come up with an honorable solution."

Later Friday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer added that, while Trump has "the authority" to dismiss Mueller, "he has no intention of doing that."

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Mueller leaves after briefing members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election on Capitol Hill on June 21, 2017. Michael Reynolds, European Pressphoto Agency

Mueller arrives for a court hearing at the Phillip Burton Federal Building in San Francisco on April 21, 2016. He had been overseeing settlement talks with Volkswagen, the U.S. government and private lawyers for the automaker to buy back some of the nearly 600,000 diesel cars that cheat on emissions tests. Jeff Chiu, AP